Entertainment

Jay-Z ‘really cried’ when his mother came out to him

The rapper said he didn’t even know he could cry for something so happy.
The rapper said he didn’t even know he could cry for something so happy. The rapper said he didn’t even know he could cry for something so happy.

Jay-Z has said that he cried with joy when he had the first conversation with his mother about her sexuality.

The rapper tells David Letterman in the forthcoming episode of the talk show host’s Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction about the moment his mother Gloria spoke to him about being a lesbian, and being in love with her partner.

He said that he had long known she was gay, but that they only had the first conversation about it eight months ago.

Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, said: “For my mother, to have to live as someone that she wasn’t and hide and protect her kids for all this time, and for her to sit in front of me and tell me, I think I love someone – I really cried.

“That’s a real story – I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free.”

He said their chat came while he was making his latest album 4.44.

“This was the first time we had the conversation, and the first time I heard her say she loved her partner,” he added.

“I didn’t even believe in crying because you’re happy, I don’t even know what that is. What is that?”

Gloria’s sexuality was revealed in Smile, a track on Jay-Z’s album 4.44 which was released in June last year.